A Cross-Sectional Study of Psychosocial Work Environment and Stress in the Danish Symphony Orchestras
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See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51731255 A cross-sectional study of psychosocial work environment and stress in the Danish symphony orchestras Article in International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health · October 2011 DOI: 10.1007/s00420-011-0710-z · Source: PubMed CITATIONS READS 35 401 3 authors, including: Helene M Paarup Jesper Baelum University of Southern Denmark Odense University Hospital 21 PUBLICATIONS 282 CITATIONS 96 PUBLICATIONS 1,911 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Musicians' Health - Denmark View project Reports on Occupational Lung Disease View project All content following this page was uploaded by Helene M Paarup on 25 January 2015. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Int Arch Occup Environ Health DOI 10.1007/s00420-011-0710-z ORIGINAL ARTICLE A cross-sectional study of psychosocial work environment and stress in the Danish symphony orchestras Gitte Juel Holst · Helene M. Paarup · Jesper Baelum Received: 20 February 2011 / Accepted: 4 October 2011 © Springer-Verlag 2011 Abstract associated with increasing stress symptoms. Compared to Purpose To investigate psychosocial work environment the general workforce independently of gender, Danish and stress in Danish symphony orchestra musicians. symphony orchestra musicians reported higher emotional Methods This was a cross-sectional questionnaire survey demands, lower inXuence, lower social support, lower of psychosocial work factors and stress symptoms among sense of community, and lower job satisfaction. However, 441 musicians in six Danish symphony orchestras. The the musicians reported a higher commitment to the work- response rate was 78% (n = 342). The questions were from place. COPSOQ (Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire). Conclusions The Wndings indicate a more demanding Mean values of 19 COPSOQ-scales were compared by gen- psychosocial work environment exposure among sym- der and instrument group. The results for the musicians phony orchestra musicians than among Danish workers in were compared with results for the general Danish work general. Critical results are the relatively high work force (COPSOQ database). demands, low inXuence, and low social support, females Results Female musicians reported higher work demands being of higher risk than males. and higher stress symptoms than their male colleagues. Between instrument groups, 2nd violinists seemed to be of Keywords Psychosocial work environment exposure · particular risk compared with the other instrumental groups Stress symptoms · Symphony orchestra musicians in aspects of work pace, work organization, and content, whereas 1st violinists perceived higher emotional stress compared with 2nd violinists. The musicians’ experience of Introduction increased work demands as well as deteriorated, work organization and job content, interpersonal relations and The hierarchical structure of the symphony orchestra leaves leadership, and work-individual interface was signiWcantly limited inXuence for the individual musician, and the psy- chosocial work environment of symphony orchestra musi- cians has been characterized by rigorous demands for high levels of technical skills, strict discipline, and an orchestral G. J. Holst · H. M. Paarup · J. Baelum Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, performance depending on high collaborative skills (Ost- Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark wald et al. 1994; Fetter 1993; Sternbach 1993; Piperek 1981). Thus, symphony orchestra musicians are a highly & G. J. Holst ( ) selected group. Despite these remarkable working condi- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Aarhus University, Ole Worms Allé 6, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark tions, only few epidemiological studies have emphasized e-mail: [email protected] on the psychosocial work environment and stress of sym- phony orchestra musicians, and the results of the studies H. M. Paarup · J. Baelum have been conXicting. A Danish study showed that only 1% Research Unit of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Clinical Institute, University of Southern Denmark, of 145 symphony orchestra musicians reported they often Odense, Denmark experienced stress (Laitinen and Poulsen 2008). In contrast, 123 Int Arch Occup Environ Health an American study of 2,212 musicians from 47 symphony Having the resources to fulWll the speciWc work condi- orchestras showed that 23% of the musicians reported more tions, the symphony orchestra musicians represent a perceived stress than colleague musicians (Middlestadt and selected group, but a paradox seems to exist; on one hand, Fishbein 1988). Similarly, among 154 musicians, 21% studies have reported that symphony orchestra musicians experienced moderate stress, 6% severe, and 4% extreme experience strenuous work conditions and stress; on the stress (Salmon et al. 1995). other hand, symphony orchestra musicians also report high Previous studies have identiWed string and woodwind levels of work satisfaction (Kivimäki and Jokinen 1994; players to report more stress symptoms than other instru- Liljeholm Johansson 1996). Many studies on psychosocial ment groups (Middlestadt and Fishbein 1988; Parasur- work environment and stress among diVerent occupational aman and Purohit 2000; Liljeholm Johansson and groups have been performed over the last decades, in Den- Theorell 2003). However, most studies have not distin- mark as well as in many other countries. However, sym- guished between string players, which should be of partic- phony orchestra musicians have often been neglected in ular interest since 1st violinists seem to be more exposed these studies leaving an uncertainty about their psychoso- due to a high work load, high technical demands, being cial work environment exposure and thereby how this pro- responsible for solos, and being more visible during the fession is characterized compared with other professions. entire performance, while the 2nd violins usually are a The overall objective of the present study was to investi- subordinate to the 1st violins. Thus, the 2nd violinists gate psychosocial work environment and stress in Danish seem more withdrawn as support for the remaining symphony orchestra musicians emphasizing on three ques- orchestra which may result in perceiving the psychosocial tions: (1) Does the mean level of work stress diVer between work environment less strenuous. Moreover, the inXuence diVerent groups within the orchestras?; (2) Is adverse psy- of gender on stress symptoms seems to be conXicting. chosocial work environment positively associated with Liljeholm and Theorell found a signiWcant diVerence stress symptoms?; (3) Do mean levels of works stress and between genders regarding female musicians reported a psychosocial work environment of symphony orchestra more adverse work environment compared with male musicians diVer from those of the general work force? This musicians (Liljeholm Johansson and Theorell 2003). In knowledge may be helpful for health professionals to get a contrast to this, Hamilton et al. found that male orchestra better understanding of the musicians work conditions and musicians reported higher mental, physical, and interper- allow health professionals to advise and treat symphony sonal strain than female musicians (Hamilton et al. 1995). orchestra musicians appropriately. A third study found that the perception of stress was unre- lated to instrumental group and gender in 93 musicians (Kivimäki and Jokinen 1994). Methods Occupational stress is considered a signiWcant work- related health problem (European Commission 2002). Participants Therefore, it is of great preventive interest to get an under- standing of how musicians experience their psychosocial Study population work environment and to what extent stress eVects the musicians and moreover, what factors in their work envi- The study was designed to comprise all symphony orches- ronment that might contribute to the experience of stress. tra musicians from the seven professional Danish sym- Several studies among symphony orchestra musicians have phony orchestras; as one orchestra did not participate for found that social relations in particular can be an important administrative reasons, the study population was 441 musi- stressor (Parasuraman and Purohit 2000; Liljeholm Johans- cians from six orchestras. The response rate was 78%, 342 son and Theorell 2003). Among 12 Swedish classical respondents, of which 39.2% were women and 60.8% were orchestras, work content and social support were among the men. The distribution of gender did not diVer signiWcantly most important work-quality factors related to health between the respondents and the non-respondents. The aspects, and the higher social support, the fewer symptoms, overall demographic data are presented in Table 1. The and more well-being were reported (Liljeholm Johansson women were signiWcantly younger than men (p < 0.001) and Theorell 2003). Another Swedish study found that and constituted a large proportion of the high string player symphony orchestra musicians, compared with Wve other group and a low proportion of the low string players and occupations, reported high psychological demands and low brass players. The distribution of gender and age did not decision authority (Theorell and Ahlberg-Hulten 1990) diVer signiWcantly between the orchestras. A higher propor- which according to the demand-control model